Whether they make it to the knockout stages or not, coach Jon Lewis believes Durham will come out of the season’s first block of one-day matches stronger than they went into it.

The Riversiders are at Worcestershire in the One-Day Cup on Sunday with a genuine chance of making it to Lord’s in July.

The winners of the northern group will go direct into the semi-finals, while the second and third-placed teams play-off against their southern counterparts. With two games to play, Durham are third, two points behind second-placed Worcestershire and one ahead of Nottinghamshire.

As a result of their financial difficulties, the Riversiders went into this year’s cup on minus points in all three competitions but their white-ball performances have put a smile on their faces.

“Particularly Thursday’s win against Nottinghamshire gives a lot of people confidence individually and as a team,” Lewis reflected after Durham won their fourth game in the competition, with one of their six games rained off.

Coach Jon Lewis of Durham (Image: Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)

“The top six are hitting the ball well and they’re all in the runs and the bowling’s been good too. (James) Weighell’s taken the wickets but there’s been good performances from all the front-line bowlers. (Paul) Coughlin’s bowled some difficult overs at the back end.

“George Harding has had a couple of games as well and he’s bowled better than his figures suggest. He didn’t play on Thursday but that was just a tactical decision because it was a day-night game and it wasn’t the biggest of boundaries.

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Outplayed in their opening game and frustrated in their second, the County Championship has so far been a more sobering experience for Durham. Starting their Division Two campaign a week later than most, they were 97 points off the promotion places and yet to find any rhythm.

Durham were docked 48 points in the Championship after they had to be bailed out having run up £7.5m of unsustainable debt. They started the One-Day Cup on minus two and the Twenty20 Cup minus four – the equivalent of a win in each.

“The Championship season never really got going for us,” Lewis said. “We weren’t at our best in the first game against Nottinghamshire.

“We played better in Bristol but Gloucester scrapped really hard to get a draw. At least we’re going to be heading back into the competition on the back of a few wins.”

Paul Collingwood of Durham (Image: Getty Images Europe)

Durham only have 15 players on full professional contracts. Their countries have called Mark Wood and Barry McCarthy up this month, Ben Stokes has been on Indian Premier League duty and there have been injuries to Jack Burnham, Usman Arshad, Brydon Carse and Ryan Pringle – although the latter has recovered from a shoulder problem.

To top it all off, overseas player Steven Cook will miss Sunday’s game because he is back in South Africa for fitness tests with the international team.

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Given his record last season, Carse’s injury is a concern, though not to Lewis. “He has had a little bit of a reaction to a back injury. It’s not the end of the world, really, we’re just being careful with him,” he said.

Others have stepped up. Graham Clark and Cameron Steel made half-centuries in Cook’s absence at Trent Bridge on Thursday and Weighell, who did not play in the early Championship games, has taken 16 wickets in five innings.

“I’m pleased but not hugely surprised,” Lewis said of Weighell. “In pre-season we played a lot of white-ball cricket and he was excellent.

Durham bowler James Weighell (Image: Getty Images Europe)

“We wanted to have him and Coughlin in the team because it makes us a better fielding side, Both of them are excellent, covering the ground really well.”

The club responded to Cook’s absence by signing up 24-year-old batsman Gareth Harte – who like Carse, Keaton Jennings, Michael Richardson and the opener is South African-born – for the rest of the season.

“(Coach) Neil Killeen has had to work very hard to get quality players in the second team, particularly with the school term on at the moment,” Lewis said. “He’s spent a lot of time on the phone trying to get triallists and enough players to fill a team.